Alexander Lucas Kerr, 20, was sentenced in the Napier District Court for causing the death of 19-year-old Wade William Crosbie in a crash on Foster Lane in Havelock North on the evening of 2 January 2025.[1] A second passenger, Taidgh McMahon, also 19 at the time, suffered serious spinal injuries and appeared in court in a wheelchair.[1] Kerr, who had no previous convictions, had pleaded guilty to one charge of causing injury and one of causing death while the level of THC in his blood exceeded the Land Transport Act’s high-risk level.[1] Judge Russell Collins said Kerr’s THC level was almost twice the high-risk level deemed under the Land Transport Act.[1]

The judge set a starting point of 54 months, applied discounts of 20% for guilty pleas, 15% for youth, 5% for the restorative justice process and 10% for rehabilitation, and imposed 27 months in prison.[1] Kerr was also disqualified from driving for five years.[1] Judge Collins said Kerr was driving with passengers in breach of his restricted licence, lost control approaching a corner at 72-74km/h, and the car crossed a grass verge into a gully.[1] The judge said Kerr had used cannabis since he was 16 and had been breaking the law regularly for some time.[1]

Kerr’s lawyer, Matthew Phelps, argued for home detention, and the 27-month term was above the two-year threshold at which home detention could be considered.[1] McMahon told the court he had spent five months in the Burwood spinal unit in Christchurch and did not want to see Kerr jailed, while Crosbie’s mother, Michelle Thompson, said outside court: “It’s a death. I hope that it will teach him, and others.”[1]